The Myopic Vision of a Rapist Dressed in Messiah’s Garb – One Youth’s Account.

to again decide who should occupy the Rock. And it was in the scramblefor this that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was given the presidential ticket ofthe (then) Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). For us in the South-West,2011 was the year the ACN a predominantly South-Western politicalparty again took hold of the South-West, after eight years of theopposition’s rule. And for the youths of the South-West, it seemedthat was all that we could change; after all, nothing changes at theCentre. Well, that was until Ribadu was for President.

As well as many other Nigerian youths, I was inspired that 2011 wasperhaps the year Nigeria would leave the Land of Backwardness; for inMr Ribadu we saw a distinguished fellow, an anti-corruption tsar, arefined and reformed mind, a transformative leader and a Mosaicmessiah destined to preside over the affairs of our beloved countryand change the history of the nation for good, forever, and in ourtime.

So, my colleagues and I quickly gathered as a political groupcomprising of like minds, idealistic youths, male and female, whobelieved in charting a new course for Nigeria and agreeing to supportthe candidacy of Mr Ribadu. We were mainly university students, and indifferent levels of different courses of study; I, for one, was infinal year. Yet so common and unifying was our conviction, and sowilful our spirit, that we gladly skipped lectures and missed severaltests and practical sessions, to campaign for our prospective leader –our Ghandi, the nation’s Mandela: our symbol of change and nationaldevelopment.

We found and quickly affiliated with TEAM RIBADU, a pro-Ribadu groupset up by a youth of Yoruba extraction, which we considered a platformfrom which we could operate effectively. No, it wasn’t business asusual: Many of us did not receive any favours, monetary or otherwise,for our effort; I never did, and neither did (m)any of my friends. Wenever sought to meet Mr Ribadu in person for him to acknowledge thesacrifice we were bearing for him. We never cared if he was aware ofus or not. We were fuelled by passion and propelled by the ideals wesaw in Mr Ribadu, ideals that I suspect are now amiss; nevertheless,ideals that made us, even as students, to contribute money to hirebusses and travel several kilometres to campaign for our aspiringPresident, a man who would uplift Nigeria like Deng Xiaoping did toChina, taking our nation from the rear to the fore.

I must, at this juncture, admit that it was not all rosy, and confessthat we were harassed more often that this account can dare tocontain. And suffice it to say that more often than not, we travelledthe length and breadth of Ogun State, our home State, arrived in theloudly quiet dead of the night, only to be told of tests missed andexams imminent, so that we had to study despite our aching bodies andtired brains, while our parents back home imagined their children inschool doing well. And all these for Mr. Ribadu, our Moses, a man whonever knew us but in whose ideology we believed to change the nation.

As youths we understood the enormity of the problems in which Nigeriahad found herself and we were ready to make our own sacrifices howeversmall, or intense, to remedy the nation. Our efforts may not comparefavourably with those of Walter, Oliver, McKathy and their masterDalinbunga; but we were ready to sacrifice our token nevertheless. Ajourney of a thousand miles of course began with a step, and maybe ourefforts would not be in vain if Nigeria voted Ribadu and not Jonathan,and if Nigeria improved.

So domineering was my belief in Mr Ribadu that I gave my mother a listof the people to vote for. Knowing that I was more politically awarethan she was, she accepted to vote all my candidates except one – mypresidential candidate. Mum being a good Christian had been swept awaybecause he, the other candidate, had knelt down at a popular prayercamp for her astor to pray for him. Mum had concluded beyondpersuasion or counter-conviction that this other man was a saint whowas not capable of hurting flies.

However, that was one conviction that was not to last. Jonathan, andnot Ribadu, won that election. And Mum was fulfilled, for as long asit would last: The first day of 2012, her ‘messiah’ decided to giveNigerians as a new year gift an increase in the pump price of petrol.Mum was stunned, and I was glad to say, ‘I told you, mum’. Yes, I wasstill pro-Ribadu, even in defeat. She thereafter took succour in hermessiah’s promise to use the funds from the subsidy for a reinvestmentprogramme, only to be more disappointed when the subsidy thieves werenot prosecuted and there was no proof of the reinvestment programme.

Fast-forward two and a half years…When I read about Mr Ribadu’s defection on a friend’s page on Twitter,I considered it a political propaganda and an impractical joke. I didnot believe that a presidential candidate of one party would suppresshis dignity and snuff out the life in his conscience just to contestfor a governorship position of his State under the aegis of the otherparty, the ruling party, and all so he could join the power-drunkleadership at all cost. I did not believe he would abandon hisdisciples and his expanded national vision. The Mr Ribadu that I knewwould never do that, I reassured myself; he was well schooled andwould never insult his intelligence that cheaply. Only to be provenwrong when he went ahead anyway to pick the nomination ticket for thatseat under the same party he had campaigned against nationally.

Despite my disappointments, I am almost certain that in whatevercapacity Mr Ribadu serves this nation, he will do well. And, asSection 40 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended) gives everyNigerian citizen the right of association, Mr Ribadu is free toassociate with whomever he wants. His fundamental human right shouldnot be violated or limited because he is a politician. Yet, that wasnot to be all. The political constitution dictates that when youbecome friends with those you had spoken against, not only must youswallow your words and recant your stance, you must extol such ones.But even at that, one’s conscience must not be buried beneath therubble of presidential ambitions shattered by a governorship present.

My intellect was therefore raped, and my convictions violated, when MrRibadu said that the incumbent president had surpassed his own visionfor Nigeria! Is this the same Ribadu of three years ago? How will aman I had thought would change Nigeria like Mohammed bin Rashid AlMaktoum of Dubai and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore repudiate his visionwith such a reductionist sentence? Is Mr Ribadu telling us in essencethat had he won the 2011 presidential election, Nigeria would haveretrogressed more than this? That impunity in this nation would bemore rampant and the poverty level would soar much higher? That therecent five billion naira said to be recovered from the over 3.4trillion naira fuel subsidy scam would not have been recovered? Thatmore than 250 girls would have been kidnapped (and) without him beingperturbed?

Is Mr Ribadu saying that if he were the President of Nigeria, theeconomy would have fallen through the zeroth line, and that corruptionwould have been the slogan of his administration? Is he saying that wewould have been in more debt and he would have become Pol Pot, LeopoldII or Hideki Tojo since we already have an Adolf Hitler? Please,someone should answer me. Is Mr Ribadu telling us that had he won thepresidential seat, he would have taken Nigeria 75 years backward?These are the questions begging for answers in my head and causing methis bout of sleeplessness. How do I tell my mother that my candidatehas finally accepted that her own candidate was better, despite thelatter’s numerous transgressions?

Yes, the many youths who supported Mr Ribadu one way or the otherdeserve an unreserved apology for violating our collectiveintelligence and for leading us into an empty room where he raped usand now leaves us to rot. We toiled for him, slaved for him, enduredwith him, and now he abandons the lonely, narrow, high path he hadmapped for Nigeria only to take the common, wide, low path that theHoly Book says leads to destruction? He should tell us how he has losthis spine and cannot feel his feet; and why.

‘It Is Possible’ was the motto we adopted for Mr Ribadu but now have Iconcluded that it is not possible for him inasmuch as thetruth-seeking youths of this country are concerned, and insofar as thefuture of this nation is involved. If he was indeed, and there’s muchreason to doubt, our Moses, this is not the part where he runs to thewilderness for forty years; this is indeed the part where he isforgotten on the Mount. I have therefore burnt my own shirt todaywhich I had kept since 2011, but not before I wiped with it the tearsI shed for feeling so used by Mr Ribadu and the blood from my rapedvirgin political mind.

Let Mr Ribadu inhale the smoke from the ashes and let him know thatnot only has he let us down, he has shown us that there are only twopolitical parties in Nigeria – the Oppressors and the Oppressed: ThePoliticians and The People. And he is a politician after all. Thisbelief shall remain until I’m proven otherwise by a more dignifiedpersonality, or perhaps the former Mr Ribadu if he ever finds his feetagain.

Best wishes to Mr Ribadu; and I wish his new Party the very best of luck.

‘biodun Okunola (c/o #Ayk_EDIT) – @authorao2Ibadan.

Advertisements

Rate this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Contact Us…

Views expressed herein are not necesarily that of New African Press but that of the individual writers. Facts and accuracies are the responsibilities of the authors. Please also note that some people may use pseudo names or generic emails, to which New African Press may not be able to verify. Therefore, an author’s identity should not be inferred on the basis of name, subject matter, or any other characterization presented here.

Disclaimer

This blog claims no credit for any images posted unless where otherwise stated. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to the image and it will be promptly removed.

Calendar, 2015

Disclaimer

This blog claims no credit for any images posted unless where otherwise stated. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to the image and it will be promptly removed.